THE mercury soared close to 30 degrees Celsius in some areas yesterday and the warm spell is set to remain for the next couple of days, forecasters said.

Today’s high will be about 24 degrees, before rising to 28 tomorrow, so there will be plenty more opportunities to wear those T-shirts and flip-flops.

Summer, however, is not here yet, and the mercury will steadily slide in the latter part of the week, from 21 degrees on Friday to 20 on Saturday and just 17 on Sunday.

The week’s lows will fluctuate between 12 and 17 degrees.

There is also a good chance of rain from Friday onward and conditions will be generally overcast. So anyone heading to a cemetery over the weekend for the annual Qingming (tomb-sweeping) Festival should keep an umbrella close at hand.

Songjiang District saw the highest temperature yesterday, with 29.8 degrees, though in most areas the mercury hovered between 25 and 26 degrees, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said.